Roots

Arilbreds tend to drop their roots during summer dormancy, but some of the
quarterbreds I dug this weekend had held on to enough to measure.  El Gigante
had the longest, with some exceeding 18". 

I should add that it's not at all unusual to find iris roots over a foot deep
when renovating beds.   My own practice is to remove the old roots before
planting.  Some years ago, I experimented with leaving 4 to 6" of roots on
1/4-breds & TBs, but when I dug them the following year those plants seemed to
have put out fine feeder roots on the old stubs rather than devoting energy to
growing long, new roots.  Here, a deep root system is essential to survival.

Sharon McAllister (73372.1745@compuserve.com)
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